First Catch

The Team

My name is Dan Smedley and I am the founder and lead angling coach at First Catch. I've been fishing for over 20 years and during that time I've caught fish from waters far and wide. Roach and chub from local rivers and canals, big shoals of bream from large club waters, pike and perch from the Norfolk Broads, tench and crucians from intimate little woodland lakes and carp from challenging day ticket venues but whatever the target species, fishing has always had a special place in my heart.

To this day I can still remember my first, memorable catch. Fishing a busy day ticket lake with my Dad in Norfolk and, after spending all day catching tench, I hooked into a small carp about 5-6lbs. It beat me up for nearly 10 minutes on a light float rod but eventually it slipped into my net and I was lost for words. From that day on I was hooked on fishing for life. That being said, I can still remember that overwhelming feeling when I started out, not knowing which knots or floats to use, what hook or hook link I needed, when to feed bait or indeed when not to feed bait and everything else that you have to consider when going fishing. I was really lucky when I was younger because I had my Dad to guide me all the way and I still rate him as one of the best anglers I know.

Now, I am a fully qualified level 2 lead angling coach, licensed through the Angling Trust. This puts me in a privileged position. It means I can share in that first catch feeling with everyone and even share in memorable catch moments with more experienced anglers. Now, I could be the one to guide, coach and support new anglers into the sport or improve the skills of the more experienced and so with that, First Catch was born in June 2022.